project Collaborative Project: A Guide to Sentinel Sets

[drbuzzard]

I'm going through slowly. Did a couple today. It's not complete revisions, but some tidying here and there. 

[Underfyre]

7 hours ago, Sunsette said:

 

My current projects are blasters; another sentinel is prob. #3 or 4 on the list, once I can figure a primary or secondary I haven't done before. Water/Ice seems likely.

 

Not many folks running that Ice secondary.

[Sunsette]

2 hours ago, underfyre said:

 

Not many folks running that Ice secondary.

 

Can see why. It's a semi-active skip-nothing Rad-like secondary except that its clicky effort is put towards making your survivability even better. This avoids the "Sentinel feels like a worse blaster" problem by making it so that there's fun things associated with the secondary rather than feeling like you have to take 4 toggle powers to equal Blaster Scorp Shield; however, it exacerbates the problem on the front that with DDR or much higher non-cold base resists or higher Sent Max HP, it doesn't look like it really reach "I laugh in the face of death" except for its ~40% uptime on the defensive T9.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Sunsette

[Sunsette]

Made some updates to my incarnate power recommendations.

[Mack008]

Kind of surprised that after 9 pages we don't have a power-by-power review of /bio.

[Sunsette]

I think none of us that write guides are especially interested in bio, but that is an undermet need. I'll see about making an alt this weekend. 

[Underfyre]

It's not that it's a disinterest, Bio is definitely a top end, good all around set. It's just a lot of work to type up the guides and I have a bunch of other pet projects I work on in addition to finding time to actually play the game.

[Sunsette]

bio is good i just don't have a lot of concepts that start with 'okay so to use their powers they momentarily turn into a giant ugly blob'

[Underfyre]

Definitely have to turn it to minimal gfx. Then you just need an excuse to have glowy fists, and do you really need one? The trick is just finding colors that aren't ugly.

[Sunsette]

It is less ugly on minimal graphics but also like... it's still very obviously themed around mutation/chemicals which aren't my personal forte for concepts. Bio mechanically works really well for a lot of 'mode switching' type stuff but every time I've tried to convince myself to try and override the flavor it doesn't work for me. My magic Bio tanker has been stuck leveling for *years*.

[Underfyre]

Maybe it's an age thing, but when this game came out I was in my early 20s and every character I made was Mutation. These days I'm staring down 40. I might give the origin a minor thought, but my go to is almost always Science.

[SmalltalkJava]

Lol for bio I couldn't get past the gross poop animations.   Then I found the bio armor mod in the mods application.  Now I finally have a bio toon. 

[357trall]

MODERATE s/l/e/n defence  HIGH resistance to cold  LOW resistance to fire  HIGH Perception resistance/increase
HIGH resistance to slow/recharge reduction  LOW absorb shield  MODERATE hp increase  HIGH temporary resistance/regen
LOW DDR

 

No protection from terrorize or confuse No protection from psi

 

Ice Armor feels like a fragile set with alot of holes that need to be plugged. It's not really new player friendly,
with lower defence then expected and no resistance to common damage types. Powers such as Hoarfrost, Moisture Absorption,
and Icy Bastion plug those holes, but they tend to have long cooldowns or are clunky to use. Also, Glacial Armor comes
latter then liked at level 20 and Icy Bastion at level 38. This set lacks Icicles and Chilling Embrace. Icy Bastion
seems like a sideways move from Hibernate (for a sentinel) and feels like a bandaid for the sets shortcomings.

 

Beginners Overview

 

This isn't a high defence set, more of a moderate defence one. So you will get hit and take pretty much all of the damage.
Many of the powers in this set are rather weak and you will be looking to pool powers and IO's to supplement your defences.
An example would be Frigid Shield, enhanced at level 50 will probably give you around a 90 point absorb shield that refreshes
every 5 seconds. Sounds good until you realize that is maybe a single minion attack. Hoarfrost is a decent heal and boosts
your max hp for 2 minutes, long cooldown however. Moisture Absorption handles your endurance recovery needs and supplements
 defence, bit clunky to use with such a short range and aoe. Icy Bastion has the potential to solve your problems, once you
 get it a level 38. In general you will probably play on the conservative side and endurance may be a issue.

 

T1 Glacial Armor-Gives defence to S/L(11.90), resist to cold/fire, and DDR. Takes defence sets
and makes a good place to mule defence uniques. Toggle

 

T2 Hoarfrost-Self Heal, increases your max hp and gives a small amount toxic resist 6 minute recharge.
Takes resist damage and healing sets. 6 minute recharge. Click

 

T3 Wet Ice-Mez protection, cold resist, DDR, and .70% defence. Takes no sets. Toggle

 

T4 Frigid Shield-Absorb Shield 30/30 at level 50, half which is enhanceable. Takes healing sets. Toggle

 

T5 Moisture Absorption-Steal endurance from foes, restoring your endurance and increasing defence.
Ranged AOE with a 10ft range and 8ft radius, 5 targets max with 2.8% defence per target. Takes
defence and endurance enhancements. Click

 

T6 Glacial Armor-Gives defence E/N(11.90), cold resist, perception resist(60%), and DDR. Not available
until level 20. Takes defence sets. Toggle

 

T7 Permafrost-Gives resistance to fire and cold. Takes resist damage sets. Auto

 

T8 Frost Protection-Increases max hp 60/60 at level 50, 10% resist to slow/recharge. Takes healing sets. Auto

 

T9 Icy Bastion-Increases regeneration(400%), recovery(200%), and resistance(35%) to everything except psi for
30 seconds at base levels. Takes resist damage, endurance modification, and healing enhancements. 5 minute recharge. Click

 

Slotting

 

At a basic level, not many slots are needed for Ice Armor. Frozen Armor and Glacial Armor can get by with 1 endurance
reduction and 2(maybe 3) defence enhancements. Wet Ice doesn't take sets, so only a endurance reduction. Hoarfrost 1 recharge,
2 heal, and maybe a endurance reduction. Icy Bastion you will probably go all out on, other powers can be left at 1
slot.

 

Skippable Powers

 

Frigid Shield-the absorb shield it generates is on the weak side and you might not even notice it reducing incoming
damage. 10% slow/recharge resist

Permafrost-gives resistance to cold and fire, not very common damage types.

Frost Protection-increases max hp, but not a huge amount, 10% slow/recharge resist

 

These powers could be skipped, they are rather weak. They do make good mules for resist or healing sets however.

The power in the set that annoys me is Moisture Absorption. On melee ATs it is a pbaoe, on a sentinel it is short range
taoe. With all the movement that can occur in combat, hitting more then 1 foe can be problematic, and often I select
enemies just out of range too. In general it is clunky and I don't like it.

 

Advanced Slotting

 

Ice Armor gives many opprotunities to slot defence, resist damage, healing, and endurance modification sets.
Frozen Armor can be 3 slotted with luck of the gambler and then used to mule kismet accuracy, shield wall +resist all,
and reactive armor scaling damage resistance enhancements. Glacial Armor can be done similiarly, 3 slot of your
favorite defence set and off you go. Moisture Absorption can take a luck of the gambler global recharge. Frost Protection
and Frigid Shield take healing, 2 slotting preventaive medicine gives 2.25% s/l resist, 3 gives 1.8% health. Hoarfrost could
take 3 slots of preventative medicine and steadfast protection/gladiator's armor 3% defence uniques. Permafrost takes
resist damage enhancements, probably best used as a mule for resist damage uniques. Icy bastion should be slotted to increase
it's resistances, aegis/unbreakable guard/reactive armor at 3 or 4 slots should do, with the rest in preventaive medicine.
It does take endurance modification sets, but I don't think endurance recovery is as much of a priority as resists and
regeneration. With slotting and enough global recharge, the cooldown on Icy Bastion can be reduced to around a minute and a half
 with 30 seconds uptime.

 

Power pools you will want are Fighting(to make you tougher) and Speed(to recharge your powers faster) . Tough can be
slotted with unbreakable guard to get some s/l defence. Weave can be slotted with luck of the gambler. Haste from the
 speed pool just needs recharge, 2 or 3 slotted common IO's.

 

The main goals of advanced slotting are to use sets to get s/l/e/n to soft cap, which Ice Armor alone will not do.
Slotted Frozen Armor and Glacial Armor will get you to about 18%, plus anothe 6% from the resist damage uniques, and
5% from Weave, should give you around 29% defence to s/l/e/n. Combat Jumping/Hover/Stealth/Manuvers can help a little
 if you are willing to go into thier pools for them. After that you are probably going to be looking at sets such as
thunder strike at 3 pieces gives 2.5% e/n, eradication at 3 pieces gives 3.125% e/n, rectified reticle give 1.8% s/l
at 2 pieces, kinetic combat 4 pieces gives 3.75% s/l, reactive armor gives 1.25% s/l/e/n at 4 pieces, artillary at 3
pieces gives 1.8% e/n and gaussian's at 6 pieces give 1.25% to s/l/e/n/f/c. The sentinel ATOs can give defence that
you are looking for, but need 5 and 6 pieces to get it and you may want to break them up for 2 or 3 piece slot bonuses.

Panacea chance to +hit points/endurance is probably best slotted in health and a performance shifter chance for +endurance in
stamina. If you have the slots, Ice Armor gives the opprotunity to slot more performance shifters and power transfer chance
 for self heal, Moisture Absorption and Icy Bastion take them.

 

Complementary Choices

 

Ice armor should pair well with any blast set that has a way to reduce incoming attacks. Dark for -to hit, Energy/Assault
Rifle for knockback, perhaps Psi for recharge reduction, Ice for slow/hold. The Psionic Mastery epic pool can be taken for
 attacks to procs and the link minds buff(defence/hit)

 

Incarnate Abilities

 

I don't really have any advice to give here, I tend to start another character once I get to 50. Probably want powers
that increase damage, since this sets gives you nothing.

[357trall]

Feel free to use, critque or erase the review of ice armor as desired.

[Sunsette]

On 7/19/2021 at 10:14 AM, 357trall said:

Feel free to use, critque or erase the review of ice armor as desired.

Thank you very much for your contribution! I should have a review of my own going up in the next few weeks but your opinions seem dead-on or well-supported to me!

[TombTyrant]

This thread is very helpful to me in discovering this new AT. I will be making some tweaks to my build based on this advice.

[Underfyre]

Primary Powerset: Dark Blast
Med-High* Single-Target Damage, High* Area of Effect (AoE) Damage (1 Cone, 1 Targeted, 1 PBAoE), Low* Control (1 knockback), Med-High* Debuff Potential

 

Dark Blast's claim to fame is debuffing the enemies hit chance. This is, unfortunately, a resistible debuff. In most gameplay the resisted amount is negligible, but if you're counting on it in AV/GM fights, don't. Then again, who is successfully soloing AVs/GMs with a Sentinel? Not the vast majority of the player base, that's for sure. Anyway, after a bunch of toying around with slotting and rotations, I found out that Dark has the capacity to be a top end damage set, not quite challenging Fire and Electric, but up there. The reality is that it will be extremely endurance hungry to do it.
  
Beginner's Overview
 
For leveling, Dark is a good set purely because of the To Hit debuff, it pushes survivability to your favor. The set pairs well with resist secondaries that don't have a lot of defense, or regen secondaries that don't have a lot of defense, or some other kind of secondaries that don't have a lot of defense. To-Hit debuffs are just another form of defense, but resistible. On the other hand, there are ways around defense using To-Hit buffs, so technically defense is resistible as well? I dunno. Anyway.

 

Slotting
 
Basic Slotting

 

The vast majority of the attacks have a 1x multiplier, so you're going to have to put a little effort into hitting stuff. At +0 that means your base hit chance is 75%. To get that to the maximum hit chance of 95% you will need to enhance it by 27% by whatever means are available. One level 25 Accuracy IO is sufficient to that end. Going to +1 will drop you to 65%, that will take 47% enhancement. A level 50 IO is only 42.4% before boosting, so you're going to have to start stacking. I'm not going to break it down further, but like I say in all of my write-ups, hitting at all is more important than hitting hard. When you finally get it, Antumbral Beam has a 1.2 multiplier which means that 75% hit chance starts at 90%. If you have a Kismet slotted you'll already be hit capped. Honestly you'll be spending a few million if you purely slot with IOs, but a single Kismet is currently running for 4-5M. It probably isn't worth it for a first timer, but if you have a bank roll behind you, go for it. It will save you slots on accuracy enhancements. Otherwise 2/2/2 on accuracy, damage and recharge won't steer you wrong.
 
Advanced Slotting

 

Since Dark Blast debuffs To-Hit it opens up the To-Hit Debuff and Accurate To-Hit Debuff enhancement sets. This essentially equates to one more damaging proc being available. Don't let me catch you using one of those sets in your primary attacks, you are a damage AT. Act like it. Most abilities have sub 2s cast times, except for Antumbral Beam, so your attack chain is going to be fairly snappy. You will need a bit of recharge to get yourself out of using Dark Blast as filler.

•    Dark Blast - As is standard for most all Sentinel sets, the T1 is the better option of the two starting abilities. 3.5PPM procs have a 29.17% baseline chance. As usual, I'd probably not bother putting procs in this attack. Standard muling tactics apply. It is a possibility that you will purely be using this ability to trigger Opportunity and not have it as part of your regular rotation, so muling it isn't entirely necessary if you need a set elsewhere. Options are Winter IO for typed defenses, or the Sentinel Ward for positional defenses but the Ward proc is better served in an AOE ability.
•    Gloom - Most everybody will tell you Gloom is better than Dark Blast, and they technically aren't wrong. Before Incarnates it does do more damage. Once you have your Interface online, it will be worse than Dark Blast. This is because Interface procs don't care about cast times, so faster is better. Dark Blast is faster, so it wins the DPS race. Treat it like Dark Blast slotting-wise.
•    Umbral Torrent - Ahh, my favorite. A cone. BUT! This one is different! This one has a very fast cast time and a long enough recharge/arc/radius for procs to be somewhat useful. Baseline 3.5PPM proc chance is 50% to trigger, and it has 5 damaging procs available. Now we have a contender. Franketslot this little piggy and find a way to manage its heinous endurance cost, you want this as a rotation staple. However, you could also consider putting the Opportunity Strikes set here since the proc triggers for each target up to 6. It'll be a 7.74% chance if you put the entire set in, or a 14.29% chance if you put just the proc in as part of your frankenslotting. Also definitely consider putting a KB>KD proc on this as it has a little bit of a knockback component to it. Otherwise, the Winter IO set will net you a total 7.5% F/C/AOE defense if don't really feel like pandering to this abilities ridiculous endurance cost. Seriously, consider just putting in a pure endurance IO into this if you plan to incorporate it into your regular rotation.
•    Abyssal Gaze - Another ability ripe for proc monster status. Moderately low cast time, respectable recharge time and a total 7 procs available, 2 of which are epic. Baseline for 3.5PPM procs is 73.91%, full 90% for 4.5PPM. After taking care of the accuracy of the ability, slot up for procs. Most Epic builds will have 30% in global accuracy, and possibly a Kismet. Those plus a Hami-O Dmg/Acc will be enough to cap at +3 settings.
•    Dark Obliteration - You should already be taking Umbral Torrent, so this ability will pad out your AOE a bit more. That being said, it's a good place to chuck one of the ATO sets. It hits 10 targets with a base 10.54% (6.5% if you put a full ATO set) chance each, so they should almost always trigger at least once, which is better for Opportunity Strikes than it is Sentinel's Ward. If you choose to proc it out, that will also be just fine. Just don't plan to use this in your regular rotation. It also has a high endurance cost, but doesn't have the damage/proc chance behind it that Umbral Torrent does.
•    Antumbral Beam - The final piece of the puzzle for your single target rotation. Slot this with Apocalypse set w/proc, and an additional proc. Don't look back.
•    Life Drain - So you decided to take this. We've already used Apocalypse. Well 5 pieces of it. Putting the last one of those here is an option since it can be boosted up higher than usual for whatever stats you're using. But you could probably just get a Hami-O for that as well. The main point being that you've used the Apocalypse proc already. Which means you have 3 damaging procs left, Decimation and Theft of Essence remaining as procs of merit. As thirsty as this set can be, the Theft of Essence proc may not be a bad choice. The Theft of Essence set doesn't really have bonuses I'm looking for, but if it's what you want, go for it. Otherwise frankenslot it. Or skip it.
•    Blackstar - Probably the best place to put Sentinel's Ward. It'll give a nice shield to couple with the massive reduction to To-Hit. You could put Armageddon here to eek a bit more damage, but I wouldn't really chalk it up as the preferable choice. You won't be singing about the 6% F/C resists and 4% recovery you get versus the M/S/L defense, and the damage increase is somewhere around 5%. If you 5 slot SW to fit in Fury of the Gladiator, you might miss the 10% recharge. An issue you won't encounter with Armageddon. Up to you, kinda depends on whether you're using a defense set or a resist set, really. Defense will probably manage, resist will be thirsty.

 

Skippable Powers

•    Dark Blast or Gloom - Pick one, you don't need both. After Interface procs, Dark Blast does more damage, on top of triggering Offensive Opportunity for yet more damage (not a ton tho).
•    Life Drain – The 0.7 scalar was applied straight across the board for Sentinels, including the heal numbers. So the heal here is fairly weak. This in addition to the long cast time makes this ability less useful than it should be.

 

Rotations

The highest damage option. Requires a good bit of recharge. Umbral Torrent's recharge needs to be below 5.59s, and the bigger hurdle, Antumbral Beam needs to be below 4.55s. That equates to 169% combined recharge in UT, and 230% recharge in AB. A bit of a tall order as, depending on slotting you should have between 97.4% to 74.1% from enhancements. That means either 132.6% or 155.9% global recharge. I wouldn't call it the most demanding, but it is kinda on the high side.

 

Umbral Torrent -> Abyssal Gaze -> Antumbral Beam -> Dark Blast/Gloom

 

The lower damage option, but also only requires 95% global recharge to accomplish, assuming some recharge is slotted into DB and AB.

 

Dark Blast -> Abyssal Gaze -> Dark Blast -> Antumbral Beam -> Umbral Torrent

 

The "I took Psi Mastery" rotation. Same rules as the first rotation, but Dominate also needs to recharge in 5.62s. That's 185% recharge, I'd consider the ACC/RCH piece from Unbreakable Constraint, then +5-ing it get 41.4% recharge out of the way. 143% to go, not too hard. Does more damage than just Primary abilities.

 

Umbral Torrent -> Dominate -> Abyssal Gaze -> Antumbral Beam

 

The "I took Psi Mastery and I want to use both Dominate and Mind Probe" rotation. Technically the highest DPS once you include Masteries. Doesn't have super high recharge requirements, but it does require you to wade into melee. You might have decided to stay there after using Blackstar anyway. Still has high endurance use because Dominate and AB have a high endurance cost. To cut Dark Blast out of the picture requires Mind Probe to be under 5.69s, which is a tall order. Like 252% recharge tall order. Blistering Cold will net you 72.6%, leaving with 179.4% to get globally. Which it turns out is lower DPS than slotting procs and just using DB. So just do that I guess, unless you need the defense from Blistering Cold.

 

Dominate -> Antumbral Beam -> Abyssal Gaze -> Mind Probe -> Dark Blast/Gloom

Ancillary/Patron Pools:
 
Psi Mastery. Dominate and Mind Probe are super powerful.

 

Another option is Ninja Tools. The ability to slot Fury of the Gladiator and Achilles' Heel to double stack for almost -40% resists does pose the option to boost your damage by a hefty bit, and Achilles' Heel isn't naturally available to Dark Blast, so this is a good way to reach it. Realistically, Fury of the Gladiator in The Lotus Drops is a better option than putting it in Blackstar as well, simply because you'll be using it more frequently.
 
Complementary Choices:

 

Like I said, as a To-Hit debuffing set, this essentially adds to your defense. Adding to defense is something Resist sets sorely need. So Dark, Fire, Electric, Radiation are on the table, as well as Regen. Which isn't technically a resist set. Bio then Fire are your top picks for doing more damage. Otherwise the world is your oyster, pick whatever feels good.

 

Thematically, minimal FX Bio with the right coloring kinda gives off a "Dark" vibe to me. Regen and Radiation can be recolored to blend as well. Really the only set that I can't picture vibing with Dark is Electric Armor, but I'm sure someone could surprise me.

 
Incarnate Abilities:
 
Musculature would usually be my go to. But with 2 abilities that have a chonky endurance cost rolling around your rotation, Cardiac may be in order, just depends on how well you have your recovery set up.
 
Hybrid Assault is your go to. Whether you go for Core or Radial depends on what kind of damage boosts you plan to be around. For solo play, Radial will provide a better damage boost than Core, but in group play where you may have the most minor of chances of reaching the damage cap, Radial will also be better than Core. Skip Core.

 

As endurance hungry as this set can be, I'm going to say that Ageless will be your first pick, but if you find your secondary isn’t pulling its weight, you can take Barrier. Otherwise take whatever you want. But yeah, Ageless.

 

Grab an interface that does a damage proc. Diamagnetic is not useful for damage by any means. It reduces regen by a maximum of 40% which ain't much in the long run, even if it technically counts towards your DPS. When accounting for the effects of -MaxHP on regen, and the fact that you're clearing 4,000 less health, Degen Core is your new king. In the event that everybody around you is also running Degen, fall back to Reactive.

 

Other than that, your Lore choices are just whatever you’re feeling or themeing towards. Or just do what everyone else does and get Banished Pantheon Radial or Longbow.

Edited December 16, 2021 by underfyre

[Destruye Arepas YV]

On 1/17/2020 at 2:39 PM, drbuzzard said:

 

Beam Rifle/ Electric Armor

 

 

 

This is a tough build which can blast with impunity at range. If you end up in the thick of things it can get a bit dicey. I might well dump power sink and replace it with the caltrop power from the ninja epic pool. That’s a handy tool to make things keep their distance which I use on my BR/Dark sentinel. 

 

This build is the basis of my current Sentinel Build.

 

With the power of mids , some tweaking here and there for my own playstyle ... I think it really performs incredibly well and is a solid sentinel choice.

 

It is a blast to play in Groups and grateful for the analysis!

 

Sentinels are very strange to me but I have grown fond of them thanks to this build. Thanks for sharing!

[Destruye Arepas YV]

Any newbie sentinel like me should read this post fully ...

 

Mind boggling information to astound the senses! 😄

[Astral_Storm]

On 8/6/2019 at 3:43 AM, Sunsette said:

Secondary Powerset: Energy Aura

• Medium Healing, High Defense, Medium Resistance, Medium Clickyness
• 20% Global Recharge Reduction, 60% Global Endurance Reduction, Endurance Drain, Medium Defense Debuff Resistance, Medium HP Increase, Low Psionic Defense, No Protection vs. Confusion, Fear, or Terrorize

 

Compared to Energy Aura sets on other archetypes, Sentinel Energy Aura has been rendered 'boring but effective'. Dampening Field, Entropic Aura, and Energy Protection have been replaced by less conditional powers, and it loses the built-in stealth effect for an auto power that saves a little bit of Endurance cost. Only one power now -- Power Drain -- benefits from the Sentinel standing in a crowd.

 

Energy Aura is one of two secondary powersets that are arguably the gold standard of Sentinel defensives, the other being Super Reflexes. In a virtual dead heat for second-highest defense values, possessing a solid increase in health, and having two skippable abilities that are also decent choices in their own right, Energy Aura is a consistent performer that has no real weaknesses aside from the need to use Defensive Opportunity, Energize, or Power Drain roughly every 30 seconds to keep endurance costs under control; it hemorrhages endurance otherwise. Just make sure you use the Energy Glow customization option and the most subtle colors you can find, or you'll only see a giant lightblob instead of your actual character. 

 

Beginner's Overview

When leveling up, damage resistance is not very helpful (unless you're going to slot the defense IOs, mentioned below), so those powers can be skipped for later in order to prioritize other importance choices. This is because resistance is only useful when you have a lot of it, while defense has value early on. The exception to this is the power Entropy Shield, which gives you protection from and resistance to status effects. If you are leveling up in teams or in most of Paragon City, this isn't a big deal until high levels -- however, any delay in taking Entropy Shield in the Rogue Isles or Praetoria will be quickly regretted.

 

While Energize is a pretty good heal, its true value is in its Endurance Cost reduction, which is better than even a level 50 Endurance IO that has been boosted as much as possible. As soon as you notice that you are consistently having any endurance problems at all, take Energize and start popping it on cooldown. Because it's Endurance Reduction rather than Recovery, waiting for when your blue bar is low will not help you; because Energize also comes with a large Regeneration buff, you won't be completely punished for using it before you take damage.

 

While Defensive Opportunity can likewise control your endurance issues, Energize frees your options up to go the offensive with Offensive Opportunity at the low levels where it provides a significant benefit, as well as giving you more health in an emergency 

 

Slotting

Because it covers rarer damage types, Power Shield is a better choice to put Kismet: +Accuracy (approximately 4.5 million influence) if you want one to save accuracy slots on your primary powerset. Steadfast Protection (Minimum Level: 7, 4 million influence) and Gladiator's Armor (Minimum Level: 27, 9 million influence) both contain IOs that increase all defense scores by 3%, which is a huge benefit at all levels, and doesn't require the power to even be toggled on if your endurance is in bad shape for some reason.

 

I wouldn't spend money on slotting anything else into defense until level 30+ IOs or SOs. Lower values provide marginal benefit.

 

Skippable Powers

While you can delay taking Kinetic Dampening and Power Armor as mentioned above, you'll eventually want to take both powers or you should have gone into Super Reflexes or Ninjitsu instead. The two optional powers are Power Drain and Overload.

• Power Drain. The value of Power Drain increases, appropriately enough, if your primary powerset contains important PBAOEs. If you're close to the action anyway, Power Drain offers a second way of managing your Endurance, allowing you to focus Energize on healing and use Offensive Opportunities rather than do Endurance management. The only other reason to use Power Drain is if your primary or an epic pool that you are invested in also deals endurance damage or drain. Power Drain steals a large amount of Endurance and also halves Endurance recovery -- when part of a rotation of three or four other similar powers, it is easy to exhaust enemies before they are actually defeated.
• Overload. Energy Aura is blessed with one of the strongest of the old-style crashing T9 powers, but crashing T9s are still generally not preferred -- no matter how strong the effect, suddenly becoming a big, floating target who has to reactivate anywhere from 4 to 10 toggles is always going to be a risky proposition. While Overload doesn't do anything to directly counter the psi-hole that Energy Aura suffers from, it actually doesn't need to. Psionic damage itself tends to be relatively weak, outside of the Rularuu and a handful or Archvillains. What makes groups like Arachnos, Carnival of Shadows, Seers, and Rikti so dangerous is that the psychic members of these groups often impose debuffs that make it easier for their non-psionic allies to defeat you. With its huge defense, defense debuff resistance, maximum HP, and recovery buffs, Overload is a significant benefit against all but purely psionic enemies -- and if you've built up your psionic defense and resistance through IOs, still a help against those.

 

Advanced Slotting

In addition to the choices mentioned above, as is standard you'll want Luck of the Gambler sets in up to five powers over your whole build for another 37.50% global recharge reduction. For defense powers, also consider the +resistance IOs in the Shield Wall and Reactive Defenses defense sets. I try to put +5 boosted Defense/Global Recharge, Defense, and Defense/Endurance in every toggle and auto that gives defense, though I usually end up skipping Defense/Endurance on the autos.

 

For resistance powers, I am a big of Unbreakable Guard (both for the +max HP unique and defense bonuses from the sets) as well as Impervium Armor (for the psionic defense set bonus and psionic resistance global). Both sets also improve Endurance management, which is great for the toggle-heavy Sentinel AT. Because Energy Aura gets so much Smashing, Lethal, and Energy Defense to begin with, it's common to put build resources towards Psionic Defense. An Energy Aura Sentinel that is fully geared can easily reach 33% Psionic Defense and mid-20s Psionic Resistance, and it's possible to softcap Psionic Defense and get mid-30s Psionic Resistance with only mild offensive loss.

 

You will probably need to slot Kinetic Combat or Winter Sets into some of your attack powers in order to make softcap on all S/L/E, or Devastation if you're trying to pursue Psi Softcap, though be careful not to sacrifice too much recharge to do so.

 

I usually frankenslot Energize for Heal/Recharge with two slots +5 boosted, as there are no great healing set bonuses before five slots. I am fairly certain Power Drain is auto-hit; for that, get End Reduction (it's a costly 13 Endurance) and/or Recharge. You only need End Modification if you want to emphasize removing enemies' Endurance, as even two targets with no End Mod enhancement is half of your Endurance bar.

 

If you're intent on grabbing Overload, slot it as a healing power, not a defense power. 40% HP is about 480 HP, and this is nothing to sneeze at. Slotted for HP, that's almost a thousand extra HP you can have, which is a big deal for psionic enemies and incarnate content.

 

Complementary Choices

• There are no sets for which Energy Aura is a bad choice, but Power Drain synergizes well with Electric Blast and Electric and Mu Masteries. The built-in recharge speed makes Energy Aura a good candidate for going deep into the Psionic Mastery pool for Link Minds.
• Because it has two skippable powers, Energy Aura is good if you want to explore a primary without a lot of clear skippable choices (such as Beam Rifle, Dual Pistols, or Water Blast) or go heavy into epic pools or weaker travel pools like Teleportation.
• As always, Hasten is helpful since it reduces Energize and Power Drain downtime; Energize also reduces the crash at the end of Hasten. Leadership and Fighting are strong choices for every Sentinel.
• Leaping and Flight are both strong pools since Combat Jumping and Hover both add to all of your defenses, and can close a lot of the distance to 45, 48, and 50% -- common defense breakpoints.

 

Incarnate Abilities

Not many incarnate abilities really interact with your secondary at all.

• Alpha: I don't recommend any Alpha slot ability that reduces recharge, as it reduces the effectiveness of PPM procs in your primary; but I'd still take Agility Radial (Endurance Modification, Recharge Reduction, Defense Buff, Movement Speeds) over Nerve Radial (Accuracy, Hold Duration, Defense Buff, Taunt Effectiveness, Confusion Duration, Flight Speed) in most cases, unless you're frankenslotting -- recharge is never useless and the End Mod synergizes well with Power Sink. Overall, it's best not to let Energy Aura dictate your Alpha slot. 
• Interface: Diamagnetic Core's to-hit debuffs can provide a useful safety buffer when dealing with enemies that impose defense debuffs even though it's easy for Energy Aura to soft-cap defense scores. 
• Destiny: If you have no other way to manage your endurance problems, go for Ageless. The choice between Ageless Core and Ageless Radial is between a ridiculous amount of endurance and a bit of haste, versus a good amount of endurance and defense debuff resistance. Otherwise, Barrier Core is a strong defensive choice for every Sentinel build, and Clarion Radial will increase your range, secondary set, and some of your side effects for a time. 

This is excellent thank you.  I've built a Dual Pistols / Energy Aura Character but don't really know what I'm doing.  She is level 48 now but, yeah, endurance is a serious issue.  I'm going to try to adopt your Beam Rifle / Energy Aura build for Dual Pistols but not sure which Dual Pistols Skill I could skip.  Any advice on this please?

[oldskool]

On 6/3/2022 at 1:40 PM, Astral_Storm said:

This is excellent thank you.  I've built a Dual Pistols / Energy Aura Character but don't really know what I'm doing.  She is level 48 now but, yeah, endurance is a serious issue.  I'm going to try to adopt your Beam Rifle / Energy Aura build for Dual Pistols but not sure which Dual Pistols Skill I could skip.  Any advice on this please?

 

Sunsette hasn't been on in a while and may not respond any time soon. 

The Dual Pistols entry is on page 3. 

You'll probably want to plan on taking 6 out of 9 powers from Dual Pistols. Which powers you take are going to be your preference. 

You must pick Pistols or Dual Wield. You do not need both. 

You could skip Empty Clips. It is, at best, a filler power. 

You may want to take Suppressive Fire. If you don't want this power, then you may need to take whatever you skipped earlier (Pistols, Dual Wield, or Empty Clips). 

You could skip Swap Ammo if you don't like the mechanic. This is generally not recommended, but you do you. 

You should take Bullet Rain. This is your best area power other than Hail of Bullets. 

You should take Executioner's Shot. This is the highest damage single target attack in both animation and recharge time. 

You could skip Piercing Rounds. Its long animation and recharge time require a niche build. Also, the side benefits of this power are pretty nerfed on Sentinels compared to all other ATs with Dual Pistols. 

You should take Hail of Bullets. It is your highest direct damage area power. 

From the above, you can see there is 1 mandatory power choice at level 1. There are 3 arguably core powers (Bullet Rain, Executioner's Shot, and Hail of Bullets). Everything else you decide to take based on how comfortable you feel with your attack availability. If you get around to having a global recharge modifier around 90%+, then you'll find you likely cannot manage more than 4~ attacks at a time (you'll have something up making other choices a waste). 
 

Edited June 5, 2022 by oldskool

[AstralTempest]

On 8/8/2019 at 4:11 AM, Sunsette said:

The only reason I haven't posted a build here is due to the fact that Mids' hasn't properly fixed all of the bugs with Sentinel BR yet. As you can see, I was tight enough on power choices that I had to avoid the epic pools and drop Cutting Beam; an alternative with a different concept might be to grab Combat Jumping instead of Hover and pick up some lightly slotted epic powers.

I hope this is helpful, and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.



Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.2
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Chandeliere 2: Level 50 Magic Sentinel
Primary Power Set: Beam Rifle
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Flight

Hero Profile:
Level 1:  Single Shot  --  SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprSntWar-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprSntWar-Rchg/+Absorb(7)
Level 1:  Kinetic Shield  --  LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(9), Ksm-ToHit+(9)
Level 2:  Kinetic Dampening  --  GldArm-3defTpProc(A), ImpArm-ResPsi(13), ImpArm-ResDam(15), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4:  Charged Shot  --  SuddAcc-KB/Rech(A), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/Rech(19), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/End(19), SuddAcc-KB/Acc/Dmg(21), SuddAcc-KB/Acc(21), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(23)
Level 6:  Disintegrate  --  SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprOppStr-Dmg/Rchg(23), SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprOppStr-Rchg/+Opportunity(27)
Level 8:  Power Shield  --  ShlWal-Def(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(29), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(29)
Level 10:  Aim  --  GssSynFr--Build%(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 12:  Lancer Shot  --  Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Apc-Acc/Rchg(33), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Apc-Dam%(33)
Level 14:  Energize  --  Pnc-Heal/Rchg(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(36)
Level 16:  Entropy Shield  --  EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18:  Refractor Beam  --  PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(34), PstBls-Dam%(34), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(34), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), TchofLadG-%Dam(36)
Level 20:  Power Armor  --  ImpArm-ResPsi(A), ImpArm-ResDam(37), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(37), UnbGrd-Max HP%(37)
Level 22:  Hasten  --  RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 24:  Boxing  --  Empty(A)
Level 26:  Piercing Beam  --  PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(40), PstBls-Dam%(40), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(40), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Ann-ResDeb%(42)
Level 28:  Repelling Force  --  LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(42), Rct-ResDam%(43)
Level 30:  Tough  --  ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam(39), ImpArm-ResPsi(39), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(39)
Level 32:  Overcharge  --  Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(43), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(45), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(45), AchHee-ResDeb%(46)
Level 35:  Weave  --  LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(46), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 38:  Maneuvers  --  LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(50), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 41:  Assault  --  EndRdx-I(A)
Level 44:  Hover  --  LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(48), Srn-EndRdx/Fly(48), Srn-Fly(48)
Level 47:  Fly  --  Flight-I(A)
Level 49:  Afterburner  --  Flight-I(A), Flight-I(50)
Level 1:  Brawl  --  KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(11), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntCmb-Knock%(13)
Level 1:  Prestige Power Dash  --  Empty(A)
Level 1:  Prestige Power Slide  --  Empty(A)
Level 1:  Prestige Power Quick  --  Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1:  Prestige Power Rush  --  Empty(A)
Level 1:  Prestige Power Surge  --  Empty(A)
Level 1:  Sprint  --  Empty(A)
Level 2:  Rest  --  Empty(A)
Level 4:  Ninja Run  
Level 2:  Swift  --  Flight-I(A)
Level 2:  Health  --  Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(17)
Level 2:  Hurdle  --  Jump-I(A)
Level 2:  Stamina  --  PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(17)
Level 50:  Musculature Core Paragon  
Level 50:  Pyronic Core Final Judgement  
Level 50:  Reactive Radial Flawless Interface  
Level 50:  Barrier Core Epiphany  
Level 50:  Assault Radial Embodiment  
Level 1:  Opportunity  

Hi there, So I bit the bullet (excuse the pun) and changed my Dual Pistols / Energy Aura to a Beam Rifle Energy Aura and I must say I'm enjoying it more.  Just trying to complete out the build but the Mids file you have provided doesn't quite match the Screenshot.  Could you post the updated build please?

[Underfyre]

23 hours ago, AstralTempest said:

Hi there, So I bit the bullet (excuse the pun) and changed my Dual Pistols / Energy Aura to a Beam Rifle Energy Aura and I must say I'm enjoying it more.  Just trying to complete out the build but the Mids file you have provided doesn't quite match the Screenshot.  Could you post the updated build please?

 

As oldskool said, Sunsette has been out of the game a spell. You'd be better off just replicating the build yourself and the image provided will be enough for you to do that. With these things you mostly need to know what set bonuses are involved more than you need to know which specific enhancements from the set were used. Unless someone used some really wonky slotting, which she did not.

[BrandX]

On 6/5/2022 at 11:50 AM, oldskool said:

 

Sunsette hasn't been on in a while and may not respond any time soon. 

The Dual Pistols entry is on page 3. 

You'll probably want to plan on taking 6 out of 9 powers from Dual Pistols. Which powers you take are going to be your preference. 

You must pick Pistols or Dual Wield. You do not need both. 

You could skip Empty Clips. It is, at best, a filler power. 

You may want to take Suppressive Fire. If you don't want this power, then you may need to take whatever you skipped earlier (Pistols, Dual Wield, or Empty Clips). 

You could skip Swap Ammo if you don't like the mechanic. This is generally not recommended, but you do you. 

You should take Bullet Rain. This is your best area power other than Hail of Bullets. 

You should take Executioner's Shot. This is the highest damage single target attack in both animation and recharge time. 

You could skip Piercing Rounds. Its long animation and recharge time require a niche build. Also, the side benefits of this power are pretty nerfed on Sentinels compared to all other ATs with Dual Pistols. 

You should take Hail of Bullets. It is your highest direct damage area power. 

From the above, you can see there is 1 mandatory power choice at level 1. There are 3 arguably core powers (Bullet Rain, Executioner's Shot, and Hail of Bullets). Everything else you decide to take based on how comfortable you feel with your attack availability. If you get around to having a global recharge modifier around 90%+, then you'll find you likely cannot manage more than 4~ attacks at a time (you'll have something up making other choices a waste). 
 

 

For Sentinel's, I'd say you shouldn't skip Suppressive Fire.  It's second in terms of DPS to Executioner's Strike (unlike other ATs, where SF is an almost no damage, mez attack) and can slot the purple IO proc from the Hold Set for a big damage boost.

[Underfyre]

Secondary Powerset: Stone Armor

• Medium Healing, Medium-High Defense, Medium Resistance, Low Clickyness
• 15% Global Recharge Reduction, 2.5% To Hit bonus, 10% Accuracy bonus, High Defense Debuff Resistance, High HP Increase, High Psionic Defense, High Perception, No Protection vs. Fear or Terrorize

 

Stone Armor is the new kid on the block for all of the damage-primary melee Archetypes. It was proliferated to Scrappers and Stalkers in Page 3, and was then modified to fit a ranged attackers (us. just us.) in Page 5. Much of the theme of the set revolves around "being in touch" with the earth below your feet and drawing your power from it, so many some basically just one of the powers of the set are suppressed when you leave the ground. If you came here to hover-blast, know that you are somewhat diminishing your potential. Very minor somewhat. This largely affects the Terra Firma and Rooted powers. And even then it apparently only affects Rooted in that you have to be on the ground to activate it, otherwise the effects of the power maintain active when flying. Terra Firma is fully suppressed during flight. So skip Terra Firma if you plan to hover-blast. It's just a range boost with some to-hit and accuracy, it'll be fine. Obviously, if you're using Seismic Blast you have to be grounded anyway. That set is absolutely tied to the ground.

 

Let me be clear. Hover-blasting with this set is perfectly acceptable. You aren't losing out on anything you will miss.

Beginner's Overview
 
Defensively, set follows the "strong here with resistance, but weak with defense/strong here with defense, but weak with resistance" approach of Willpower and Bio Armor (Energy Aura to a smaller degree) in that the set has high innate resistance to Fire/Cold damage, but very low starting defense against them.

Side bonuses of the set include a 100% regen bonus in Rooted, a +15% recharge bonus in Minerals, a 20% recovery bonus in Crystal Armor (essentially making it a free toggle), and a cast time (versus recharge time) based damage proc. Those are some sexy bonuses. Other sets need to step up their game. Or it's power creep, whatever.

 

Geode has a side bonus of granting stacks of Geothermal Power which will increase the damage of the Brimstone proc by 8% per stack, but to get these stacks you have to be in the Geode. Not a bonus to actively pursue, but if you took Geode and also had to use it for some reason, you may as well get some stacks and come out swinging.
 

Slotting
 
Basic Slotting

Not a ton to say on the "basic" end of things. Aim for 1 End Reduction and 3 Defense/Resistance IOs in the powers that want them. In Crystal Armor you'll also want an End Mod IO to increase the recovery bonus, you'll need it to help with keeping all your toggles active. A single healing IO in Rooted is sufficient. 3 Heals, 1 End Red and 1 Recharge in Earth's Embrace should do you.
 
Advanced Slotting

I feel like, optimally, you should be aiming to have the full 5 Luck of the Gambler recharge reductions in a defense set (versus a resist set). I'm going to assume you have Hover or Combat Jumping as an easy way to boost your defense, and one of the LotGs in that power. So you need 4 more. You probably also went for Weave, so 3 to go. The rest will likely go in your Secondary abilities, so I'll point you to what I think would be the optimal places. My first pass through trying to slot this set with a slot hungry primary yielded a secondary that also seemed very slot hungry. The assumption will be that you have fully slotted 6 of your 9 primary abilities, and 2 epic abilities, plus 1 for a second slot in Hasten for a total of 41/67 slots used. 26 left. I am not factoring in putting recharge in Aim, so plan accordingly.

 

I feel like I should also point out that attaining 45% defenses against all types without making sacrifices is a tall order. Unlike Bio Armor, you don't have a ton of regen, a heal and an absorb to keep yourself standing. So eschewing some offense to make sure you don't take too much damage might be the way to go. But that depends on what kind of playstyle you have.
 

• Rock Armor - This is a 4 slot ability. This your S/L defense, but diminishing returns are going to limit you anyway. So toss in a LotG here for gits and shiggles (2 to go). Red Fortune 3-slot will get you S/L/F/C resists, or LotG 3-slot will get you more health and regen. Reactive Defense 3-slot will get you just S/L resist and more health. All are good choices, but LotG will give you an excuse to slot the LotG unique here and get away with 3-slotting, or grab another 9% accuracy with the 4-slot. Might be useful.
• Stone Skin - This is a 6 slot ability. Being that this ability provides more resistance than defense, this is a key spot for LotG (1 to go). A good place to 5-slot Aegis for higher than average F/C defense. This ability is also the only power that gives F/C defense, but slotting for defense here will not match what the Aegis set will give you. If you 3-Slot Aegis, it will leave room for 2 uniques, or moving the slots elsewhere. Uniques to consider are Impervious Skin for status resistance and 25% regen, Steadfast Protection and/or Gladiator's Armor for the 3% defense, Impervium Armor if you're desperate for psi resist, Kismet for some To- Hit, Shield Wall for +5% resist to all, or Reactive Defenses.
• Earth's Embrace - Either 5-slot Panacea or 6-slot Preventative Medicine if you're leaning towards a recharge heavy build. If you're chasing defenses go for either 6-slot Panacea or 6-slot Numina's. If you have the spare slot, you can 5-slot Panacea and tack on one of the uniques from the resistance sets. Since Panacea is a PvP set, you can safely +5 it and keep your set bonuses when you exemp down, which will also give the power more recharge than if you used a plain level 50/attuned Preventative Medicine set. Minor consideration.
• Terra Firma - I'd recommend putting the Gaussian's in your primary's Aim ability unless you went Dual Pistols. Being that the only thing enhanceable in this ability is the 2.5% to-hit, I wouldn't push to enhance that stat unless you have spare slots lying around that you can't use better elsewhere. This is a good slot for the Rectified Reticle unique to get a good perception bonus. Otherwise just a single to-hit IO will do. You're slot hungry, please don't try to shoehorn the whole Gaussian set in here for 2.5% defense. I know you're thinking about it. Just.. just don't.
• Rooted - Yes, this is your only other means of self healing, but I would probably consider minimal slotting in this ability. If you don't really need the healing, put the Miracle unique here. If you kind of do, but also need the recovery, go with the Numina's or Panacea uniques. If all you care about is the regen, a +5 healing IO will serve you better than Regenerative Tissue.
• Crystal Armor - This is a 4/5 slot ability. Being that E/N resists are hard to come by, I'd consider 4-slotting Shield Wall here to grab some. Adding a fifth slot to the ability to drop in a Performance Shifter proc would not be a bad idea. I probably wouldn't try to add in one of those LotGs here, but do you.
• Brimstone Armor - This is a 4 slot ability. You can go with 4-slotting Unbreakable Guard for some Melee defense, but as a typed defense kit, that's 1.56% S/L to you, which ain't a lot. Bearing that in mind, you can 4-slot Reactive Armor and get 1.25% in S/L/E/N which is probably a better bargain. Or you can 3 slot Aegis and pop in one of those resist-set uniques for the fourth slot. Or just 3-slot it.
• Minerals - This is a 4 slot ability. Obviously it's your only place to effectively get Psi defense, but the LotG unique also has a defense component, so not a huge loss. Otherwise follow Rock Armor slotting suggestions.
• Geode - I would just slot this with recharge IOs.

 

In total we've used 23 of your 26 remaining slots on the high end here, so you do have wiggle room, but you'll probably want those slots in Tough/Weave/Hover/Combat Jumping or whatever other pool powers you took to grab more defense. So like I said, this is a slot hungry secondary.

 

Skippable Powers

•    Terra Firma - If you plan to Hover Blast, this power will be completely useless to you.
•    Geode - While it is a no-crash T9, you really shouldn't need it in a final build.

Ancillary/Patron Pools:

Ninja tools will unlock the Achilles' Heel proc to sets that may not natively have it, which will be a damage increase. The attacks that unlock that proc are also purely melee abilities, so if you want to stay at range you'll have to pass on them. It can also unlock the Fury of the Gladiator proc for something like Ice Blast that would otherwise not have access to it. Other epics can do that as well, but not every epic can nab that Achilles' proc. Otherwise just go with Psi for Mind Probe and Dominate. Until they add Earth Mastery. I hope it has Mud Pots.
 
Complementary Choices:
If we're looking from a purely "grounded" perspective, only Seismic Blast has that requirement. Otherwise, just about any Primary can benefit from something in this Secondary. I has recovery for thirsty sets that you may have franken-slotted a little recklessly, and it has recharge. Everyone likes recharge.

 

Thematically, you can change the appearance of the toggles to be crystals, stone or lava. I feel like crystals covers Ice, and Sonic, for some reason. Maybe Energy and Psi. Electric seems like a stretch, but a good enough backstory can cover for it. Plain stone seems like it should fit with both water and fire, especially with that stone waterfall backpack costume piece. Oh, and Seismic, obviously. Lava is fore fire only. Only fire. But these are just my drunken ramblings. It's an almost 20 year old game, do whatever you want. Just don't use Lava for anything but fire.
 
Incarnate Abilities
Being that this is an offensive AT, I can't really recommend going for incarnates that further your defensive capabilities, but people like to take ATs down roads they weren't expressly intended to travel. Bearing that in mind, if you wanted to travel those roads, I would personally aim to enhance your resistances over your defense. Reason being that your defenses can be patched up pretty well with set bonuses, but less so for your resists. So if you don't plan to take Musculature Core, maybe aim for Resilient or Cardiac. If you have Terra Firma, Resilient will also bump that up. If you go with Cardiac, it will lower your endurance costs and potentially free up a slot from Crystal Armor.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Underfyre